MATERNAL MORTALITY
SIE,—The report of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologist, to which you make reference in your "News of the Week" notes in your - issue of June ifith, is plainly based on the assumption that maternal mortality is a matter Of grave national .concern. Your own comment i) quite categorical. "One grave exception to the general improvement in health and mortality during the last quarter of a century has throughout that period baffled the medical profession. It is in regard to maternal mortality." Two such authorities should carry conviction, and I know how reliable you- are on matters of fact, but having occasion to -discuss the Government White Paper on a National Health Service I am puzzled to find that official statistics point to a different and more heartening conclusion.
In 1918 between four and five women died in childbirth out of every 'no°. The latest return shows that the percentage has been reduced to between two and three per thousand, which is not altogether unsatis- factory.
I do not make the point in any captious spirit, but it would be of interest to know on what data both you and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists base your conclusions.—I am, Sir, yours sincerely, REGINALD L. SWAM.
7 Huddlestone Road, Willesden Green, London, N.W. 2.
[There has 'undoubtedly been a considerable improvement in recent years, particularly since the introduction of sulphanimide drugs. But equally there is room for considerable improvement stilL—Erorrott, The Spectator.]
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